66 saw, she risked her life, month aftel month, on what was called "the Alyan side," caring for Jews whu were living in hiding outside the ghetto. Her husband died here fifteen years ago. She has managed very well-has worked as a teacher in Givat Ha- shalo111, a Tel Aviv intermediate pub- lic school, giving instruction in every- thing but shop, gym, and art; keeps a tidy, sl11all apartn1ent with a pretty garden in a quiet suburb; and has given Nuhi everything in her power, doubt- less including, many tÏ111es every day, that look. Nohi, on a weekend pass and out of uniform, fresh from a shower after playing some early-afternoon hasket- ball with friends, pours out one con- tradiction after another. \VhLn he en- tered the school where his mother teaches, he hid fro111 the other teach- ers the fact that he was his mother's son She did not teach him herself, but on the other hand, he says-a phrase that seems to be stored close to his tongue-al- though he doesn't want to pay her too many com pI i 111 e n t S, he has to say that he got a very good education from her. He grew up in an atmosphere in which the Holocaust was present-he turns his eyes toward a phu- tograph on the wall of his mothe r' s SIster and colleague in P oalei- Zion Left in Warsaw, who did not survive, alas-and thIS prob- ably strengthened his character. However, probably other things- his father's early death, for example-had l110re infi uenee on his char- acter. While N ohi sits of- fering his thoughts and taking them back, the teacher brings fro111 the kitchen copious dishes of gigantic native straw- berries, upon which towers of whipped cream have been erect- ed, and she sits down and begins shelling pe- C:lns and standing their meats up in the fir111 white shapes. On first thought, N ohi IS saying, the Arab guerrillas' mas- sacre of men, women, . and children in Qirvat Shemona the other day brings to mind the assaSSIna M tion of the Olympic athletes, but on second thought, if you take tÎ111e to think about it l110re closely, it is more like the Holocaust-111urder without mercy. However, this is a lot closer to home for him, a lot more vividly con- ceptualized in his mind, than things that happened in the past. . . . He wavers from topic to tOPIC, and within each: the pros and cons of vari- ous political figures- Yitzhak Rabin, Pinhas Sapir, and Golda (she should have retired sooner; on the other hand, she was the only real 111an in the par- ty ). The pros and cons of various CI- reers-whether, after the Ar111v, to get a job as a security 111an for EI Al or study aeronautics at the 'Technion or think about the whole question SOl11e more and decide whether there are l110re interesting possibilitIes. He gets a laugh from the guest with a hU111orous line but immediately says, "1 don't h . k I ' . k " want you to t In III a JO ere l--he white towers bristle with gold- en nut meats. 'The teacher's eyes are 111ercifully downcast as she listens. 'Then Nohi says, "1 make a 111ueh less sharp distinction between the gen- erations than most people 111Y age do. However, I do sOl11etin1es see a clear distinction, and that tends to throw D1e back toward those who say there are differences. Those who were born and raised here are a lot freer than those who were born in Europe; they have a feeling of belonging, of not being merely annexed. This is dangerous, though, because it may bring on the argll111ent of the differences between being a good Jew and being a good Is- raeli. I don't want to go into the def- initions of Jew and Israeli, but in gen- eral, personally, I feel more Israe]i than Jewish. I am a Sabra, and I don't think Sabras should be asha111ed of 111e. On the other hand, on certain occa- sions, on Y 0111 Hasho'a-the Day of the Holocaust-or at Yom Kippur, when I hear the Kol Nidre, I feel] a111 a Jew. But in gen- eral I feel I am '1n IsraeJi. 'This feeling of young people, of being fi rst of all Israelis and then Jews, is very dif- ficult for parents- Zionists-to accept; it m lY distu rb relations between parents and children. " Later, N ohi says, "Personally, I don't believe there will be p ace. I think the aÎ111 of the Arabs is very c]e.lr-not peace but the opposite. 1 t is very n.:lÏve to dllnk there won't be another war." The guest walts agaIn for the other hand. This time, It does not come. The teacher pushes the d shes of straw- berries toward the two 111ell. There IS also cake. The guest 111urmUl s something about the c'11 0 ri (' h a z a r d s 0 f droppIng in on anyone in this coun try, no 111atte r d t w ha t time of day or night. "No one," Nohi says, once more with- out qualification, "will feed you better than h " 111Y 1110t er. The teacher's large, :% # ------